It has been very cold here. The temperature has nose-dived to 11° Celsius, which is about 52° Farenheit. But the work goes on and missionaries who don't have chapels baptize in rivers. This is a stroy about one of those experiences. It demonstrates the power of faithful prayer.

Elders Hollander from Phoenix and Zárate from Querétaro, Mexico are serving in the pueblo Misantla. Misantla has no chapel. It has been the subject of a few earlier blog posts. The elders had a lady ready to be baptized, but she was afraid to be baptized in the river because it was too cold, was raining, and she was afraid to get ill. In all fairness, I point out that it is cold. Misantla usually runs in the 90's and is very humid citrus-growing country. Remember that the temperature here that day was 52.

Elder Zárate was showering. Elder Hollander was shining his companion's shoes. He was pondering the sitiuation. The thought occured to him to call his zone leaders and ask them to call all the missionaries in the zone asking them to pray the "the heavens would open and let the sun through" so that the sister could be baptized. So he called them.

About 7:30 the Sunday morning of the baptism the zone leaders called us and explained the situation. They asked us to pray with the zone that "the heavens would be opened and and let the sun shine through." We did exactly that. Elder Hollander told me that after he called the zone leaders he went back to shining shoes. He thought, "I don't have to pray. Everyone else is." After he kicked himself in the rear end for thinking that, he and his companion went to their knees.

At 8 a.m. they met at the little house where the branch holds services. At 8:30 they were at the river. It was drizzling cold rain. In the opening prayer, the plea was that "the heavens would be opened" and to "let the sun shine through." Everyone shivered through the brief riverside baptismal service. The moment of truth arrived. Elder Zárate and Elder Hollander took the sister by her hand. The heavens opened very wide. The sun shone brightly. It warmed everyone. They took her into the water and she was baptized. As soon as the ordinance was completed, the clouds closed. The rain started again. Everyone got cold and hurried off to the casa de oración for sacrament meeting. The fotos show just how wide the heavens opened. You can see all the way to the mountains.